A US-based manufacturer of adapters and dongles for Apple products has come out today expressing concern at the direction Apple has taken in recent years with constantly superseding ports that the majority of users actually use.

Ed Faroun, CEO of Advanced Workflow Systems, admits that business has never been better but sees the millions of extra revenue as a bitter pill to swallow.

CEO, wine lover and global citizen: Ed Haroun

“We’ve grown from a team of 4 to more than 3000 on the back of Apple removing ports from their devices,” Faroun said. “Firewire is what really kicked us off, but the format swap of iPad and iPhone cables is what made us huge. We’re actually projecting nearly 100% growth in the next year once headphone jacks, USB-A ports and SD card slots all disappear. If the rumours are true and Apple go with SCSI Mk 2 as the next standard we may end up with profits close to Apple’s. It’s great financially but I can’t help but think Apple has lost its focus.”

When quizzed on why a company that is raking in billions would complain, Faroun’s response was emphatic.

“I go to bed at night contemplating two things. The first is how far can this go? Think of how many millions of devices will need to be discarded outright, let alone the tens of millions of adapters we’re selling now. It has a big impact on the environment. Add to that my concern over the environmental impact of me buying a fourth house and a second plane and it really starts to look like Apple are going down a path they’ll regret. And at the end of the day, I don’t see my legacy as being the guy who helped make desks the most cluttered in history.”

When pressed, Haroun offered some advice to Apple.

“Apple needs someone to make it great again. I hear someone may soon be looking for a job that tried to make America great. Could he do that bad a job at Apple?”

The Snark is The Creative Shed’s Satire News Section. 100% of it is satire and in no way resembles reality. Reality is way sillier than this stuff. Follow The Snark on Facebook and Twitter

If you live in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Continental Europe, New Zealand or South Korea, and own an AC wall adepter that came with your iPhone, iPad, iPod or Mac device, you may want to read below:

CUPERTINO, California — 29 January 2016— Apple® today announced a voluntary recall of AC wall plug adapters designed for use in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Continental Europe, New Zealand and South Korea. In very rare cases, affected Apple two-prong wall plug adapters may break and create a risk of electrical shock if touched. These wall plug adapters shipped with Mac® and certain iOS devices between 2003 and 2015 and were also included in the Apple World Travel Adapter Kit. Apple is aware of 12 incidents worldwide.

The recall does not affect any other Apple AC wall plug adapters designed for Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, United Kingdom, United States or any Apple USB power adapters.

Because customer safety is the company’s top priority, Apple is asking customers to stop using affected plug adapters. Customers should visit www.apple.com/support/ac-wallplug-adapter for details about how to exchange the affected adapters for new, redesigned ones.

An affected two-prong plug adapter has either four or five characters or no characters on the inside slot where it attaches to the main Apple power adapter. Visit the program website for more details on how to identify an affected adapter.

A visibly angry Apple CEO has hinted that its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) may have a seismic shift in location. Tim Cook, who has helmed the tech behemoth since Steve Jobs’ passing, had one hand half clenched – the angriest body language ever witnessed.

The focus of his fury is the perceived hijacking of the significant announcements on iOS 8 and OSX Yosemite, by the leak of 45 photos from the set of Star Wars Episode VII, currently shooting in Abu Dhabi.

“How vacuous has the world become, where announcements on technology that outpaces anything Star Wars lore has ever come up with, is overtaken by some bad quality photos taken on a non-iPhone,” Mr Cook fumed.

“There’s not one Death Star in those damn pics, but we just announced stuff that will kill half the cloud services in the known universe. And nil reportage of a million voices crying out in terror.”

When prompted on what a popular culture icon the Star Wars franchise has become, Cook was dismissive.

“We’ll see how iconic they are after we hit Abu Dhabi with a full sci-fi themed WWDC next year. And if JJ Abrams thinks his free iCloud storage limit expansion is continuing, he’s in for a hell of a surprise.”

“Oh and one other thing: are they calling this movie Star Wars: Return to Shelbyville? If that’s not a half-built monorail in a bunch of those those pics, I’ll eat an Android phone.”

The Snark is The Creative Shed’s Satire News Section. 100% of it is satire and in no way resembles reality. Reality is way sillier than this stuff. Follow The Snark on Facebook and Twitter

.. for $3 billion. The software side makes a lot of sense to me, the headphone / earphone side less so as I’d be very doubtful they objectively produce any better quality stuff than anyone else. The brand is strong though, so there’s that.

The press release from Apple:

CUPERTINO, California—May 28, 2014—Apple® today announced it has agreed to acquire the critically acclaimed subscription streaming music service Beats Music, and Beats Electronics, which makes the popular Beats headphones, speakers and audio software. As part of the acquisition, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will join Apple. Apple is acquiring the two companies for a total of USD$3 billion, consisting of a purchase price of approximately USD$2.6 billion and approximately USD$400 million that will vest over time.

“Music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “That’s why we have kept investing in music and are bringing together these extraordinary teams so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world.”

“I’ve always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple,” said Jimmy Iovine. “The idea when we started the company was inspired by Apple’s unmatched ability to marry culture and technology. Apple’s deep commitment to music fans, artists, songwriters and the music industry is something special.”

Iovine has been at the forefront of innovation in the music industry for decades, and he has been an instrumental partner for Apple and iTunes® for more than a decade. He has produced or collaborated with some of the most successful artists in the history of the iTunes Store®, helping make it the world’s number one music retailer. Iovine and Dr. Dre are sound pioneers, artists and entrepreneurs.

Beats Electronics has brought the energy, emotion and excitement of playback in the recording studio back to the listening experience and has introduced an entirely new generation to premium sound entertainment. Beats Music was developed by a team of people who have each spent their entire career in music and provides music fans with an incredible curated listening experience.

“Music is such an important part of Apple’s DNA and always will be,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “The addition of Beats will make our music lineup even better, from free streaming with iTunes Radio to a world-class subscription service in Beats, and of course buying music from the iTunes Store as customers have loved to do for years.”

In just five years since launch, the Beats “b” has become the brand of choice in the music and sports worlds, and is the market leader in the premium headphone market. Music superstars including Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj have designed their own customised Beats headphones and speakers. Fashion designers and street artists such as Alexander Wang, Futura and Snarkitecture have collaborated on special limited products, while renowned athletes including LeBron James, Serena Williams and Neymar use Beats as a critical part of their training and game day process. Beats has quickly become part of pop culture in the US and with the acquisition the Beats product lineup will be offered in many more countries through the Apple Online Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorised Resellers.

Subject to regulatory approvals, Apple expects the transaction to close in fiscal Q4.

Formally established in 2008 as the brainchild of legendary artist and producer Dr. Dre and Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records Jimmy Iovine, Beats Electronics (Beats) comprises the Beats by Dr. Dre family of premium consumer headphones, earphones, and speakers as well as patented Beats Audio software technology and streaming music subscription service Beats Music. Through these offerings, Beats has effectively brought the energy, emotion and excitement of playback in the recording studio to the listening experience and has introduced an entirely new generation to the possibilities of premium sound entertainment.

Beats Music is a subscription streaming music service that focuses on providing a personalised music experience for each user through a unique blend of digital innovation and musical passion. Programmed by a trusted team of well-respected music experts with over 300 years of experience across all genres, Beats Music delivers the right music for any situation, any time, and any preference, personalised to your tastes. The result is an artist-friendly digital music service that does more than simply offer access to music, but one that establishes an emotional connection to it as well.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

If you’re an iPhoto user like me, you may have wondered how to back up your iPhoto library to Flickr without using iPhoto itself. Up until today, I’ve been using iPhoto’s built in option to share albums with Flickr, but I’ve found it nothing short of unreliable.

So after a bit of a search, I found an app on the Mac App Store called Backup to Flick For iPhoto that works like a dream. It costs AU $2.49 to buy the app, then when you launch it you just need to authorise it with Flickr, using your Flick login and password.

Once you’ve done that, you have a bunch of options to choose from (note that some require a further purchase although none of them were deal breakers for me so I didn’t need them):

Once the app has finished scanning Flickr for any pics you’ve already uploaded, it starts the upload process for your photos:

That’s all there is to it – as you can see from the second pic, I have over 2000 photos to upload (my library is over 12,000 but most had been already uploaded via iPhoto previously). It has worked flawlessly – my only request would be for the ability to be able to pause uploading, but beyond that it has everything I’ve needed. It’s definitely the best $2.49 I’ve spent on the app store. And Apple: take a good look at yourself for offering a sub-standard option as far as cloud backup for iPhoto.

It’s been quite a day with the death of Steve Jobs at 56. I spent some time putting together a small graphical tribute that shows how Steve’s original and subsequent leadership of Apple had an impact on my life. It shows the Apple gear I’ve owned over the years, with some nostalgic words thrown in.

For those unaware, there are now hundreds of short pieces on YouTube using the Downfall movie as a basis – a movie I need to add is well worth buying in its original form. Each parody addresses a contemporary issue. Although a meme that’s been pretty much flogged to death, I couldn’t resist making one that addressed yesterday’s milestone of 10 billion apps downloaded on the Apple App Store. It takes a swipe at Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Apple in fairly equal amounts.

Mr Jobs had another one of his announcement extravaganzas today, announcing a slew of new hardware and software. Australian Macworld have a great wrap on it all (Disclosure: I am a contributing writer for Australian Macworld), but aside from the understandable excitement on the Mac App Store and Mac OSX Lion, I was most taken by the update to the iLife suite.

Like a lot of iMovie users, I loved the 06 version, which was then arguably devolved to iMovie 08. I’ve actually gotten used to the 08 version but it still doesn’t make the grade in a lot of ways. It seems that Apple have actually heeded the outcry, with the 2011 iteration looking a little more like its grandfather. There’s also a bunch of new features such as storyboarding and simple trailer creation that will reflected in thousands of online video uploads.